Vice presidential debate lowers amp
Psst, there is another debate on Tuesday.
No, not between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. They do not suit back up in their gladiatorial armor until next Sunday.
This one is between their running mates, Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana and Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia. Voters may be forgiven for barely knowing of it, or allotting it little space on their mental hard drives, because of the incendiary flashes tossed into the race daily from the top of the tickets, especially by Mr. Trump.
The meeting of Mr. Pence, a Republican, and Mr. Kaine, a Democrat, two pensive and little-known nominees, might be the least anticipated vice-presidential debate in 40 years.
“You’re essentially following Ali-Frazer a few days later with a nationally televised book club,” said Tucker Martin, a Republican strategist in Richmond, Va., about an hour from the campus of Longwood University, where the vicepresidential debate will take place.
There are several reasons for the lack of excitement, which could rival previous low-interest debates like Al Gore versus Jack Kemp in 1996. That one drew the fewest television viewers, 26.6 million, of any matchup since the first vice-presidential debate in 1976.
Neither of this year’s vice-presidential candidates was a national figure at the time he was selected, unlike many past nominees. Neither has set off a media feeding frenzy like previous nominees such as Geraldine A. Ferraro, the first woman on a major party ticket, in 1984 or Sarah Palin, who became a lightning rod for critics in 2008.
Mr. Pence and Mr. Kaine are both white men in their late 50s, with solid governing résumés, but little reputation beyond their home states. They were safe choices picked in part because they would not detract from the top of the ticket.
“I am boring,” Mr. Kaine said shortly before being selected. Mr. Pence introduced himself at the Republican National Convention “to those of you who don’t know me, which is most of you.”
Mr. Trump represents a merger of presidential politics and reality show.
“Trump has so elevated the interest in any kind of political theater that a debate that doesn’t have a Trump-like figure by comparison becomes incredibly less entertaining, sadly,” said Dan Senor, a senior adviser to Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin in 2012, when Mr. Ryan was Mitt Romney’s running mate.
On social media, voters have compared the looming debate to watching “paint dry” and “90 minutes of Kaine and Pence quizzing each other on dad-rock trivia.”
Some strategists have said the debate should draw much more attention because Mr. Pence and Mr. Kaine are the understudies for candidates who, if elected, would be the oldest president ever to take office (Mr. Trump) or the second oldest (Mrs. Clinton).